Builder of Destiny
by Quicksilver
Summary: A Saffir/Pluto romance, doomed to failure. See a little into the mind of Saffir, and why fate is inevitable.


Quicksilver's Quill Offers  
Builder of Destiny  
mbsilvana@yahoo.com  
standard disclaimers  
  
Saffir shook the locks of his blue hair, trying to get his vision   
clear. The half-finished droido just sat there, its eyes staring in  
unblinking accusation. He had yet to animate it with the magic of   
the jakokuzuishou, but its very presence was enough to make him feel  
as though he wasn't alone in his laboratory.  
His hands ran over the smooth pseudo-skin, probing it mentally for  
any imperfections. He would have preferred scanning it with a  
computer, but Esmeraude's latest disaster had taken half of his  
precious machines with her hair-brained schemed. She had been  
determined to build the ultimate droid to break through the wall of   
the Guardians and gain Demando's affections through that effort, but  
had managed to miscalculate the transfer of the jakokuzuishou's   
energy into the mechanical body. As usual, Saffir had been the one  
left to clean up the mess.  
That Esmeraude... he thought with exasperation. Why won't she  
leave things to those who actually know what they're doing? Yes,   
she may be a wonderful field commander, but she's remarkably empty   
in the head when it comes to anything involving oniisan. With a   
mental sigh, he turned his attention back to the droid.  
Finding no flaws (as he had expected, since it had been HIM who  
designed the droid from the ground up), he started to sort through   
the possibilities. Esmeraude's effort had attempted to combined   
alchemy with engineering, a difficult feat indeed. Saffir, with   
all his intellectual abilities, was hard-pressed to do so, yet  
Esmeraude had blithely attempted it without a second thought.  
That Esmeraude....  
But what could he design this droid for? He'd already sent at  
least a dozen into the past with the Ayakashi sisters, and every   
single one of them had been defeated. He was incapable of making a  
perfect droido, which frustrated him beyond belief. Every single   
one of his droids was powerful, but those powers came at a cost,   
some kind of vital weakness that could be exploited. And so far,   
the Senshi of the past had managed to do so at every turn.  
Saffir had been against sending the expedition into the past in   
the first place, although he was glad to get away from Petz for a  
while. The way she was constantly looking at him was enough to   
scare him. She could be brutal, but sometimes her gentle touch   
unnerved him even more. Emotions weren't something that could be   
put into formulas and calculations, and he hated the idea that he  
couldn't always be completely rational. And since Demando-sama had  
made his disapproval for that relationship plain. So it was good   
Petz was gone... wasn't it?  
He returned his thoughts to the expedition in general. He hated  
the idea of mucking around in the past... it led to all sorts of  
potential problems, and one in particular. A problem with long,   
green hair and an impossibly short skirt. He closed his eyes,  
remembering HER.... if Petz had him confused, SHE had sent him  
positively into a daze...  
  
... Saffir looked at the time warp portal, eyes narrowed. Against  
all the possibilities, he had managed to construct a device that   
would actually take people through time into the past. It was  
theoretically possible to visit the future, yet Saffir wasn't going   
to mention THAT to any of the Black Moon Family. It would create a  
whole new set of problems that made his head hurt even thinking   
about it. Sometimes keeping his mouth shut was the best way.  
The conquest of the Earth had come to a stand-still. The forces  
of the Black Moon controlled the entire world except for the most   
vital point- Crystal Tokyo. This had incensed the usually calm  
Demando into taking more and more drastic measures, and that worried  
Saffir.  
This was the culmination many plans that had gone awry. Somehow  
Demando had gotten it into his head that changing the past was the   
only way to win now. Saffir was positive that the Wiseman was the   
one who had planted that idea in Demando's head. However, once   
Demando got an idea in his head, that was that. And though Saffir  
could have refused to design the time warp for him, Saffir could  
deny his brother nothing.  
His gloved fingers brushed over the keyboard, and with a sigh, he  
set it for 1993 AD, dreading this moment. He reached out to  
initiate the sequence that would bring machine completely on-line,  
but was stopped as a hand gently caught his own.  
He spun around, amazed that anyone had been able to enter his  
workshop. "What... what?" he stuttered, mentally preparing a  
shielding spell.   
He looked up into a pair of the most unusual eyes he had ever  
seen. They were crimson red, and though they should have looked  
hideous and inhuman, they didn't. They were unique, just like the  
rest of her was.  
Saffir immediately recognized her as one of the Senshi, but she  
obviously couldn't be one of the Inners. He had seen images of  
Sailors Uranus and Neptune, so that left only two. His eyes fell on  
the staff she was carrying and the glowing key on top of it cinched  
her identity in his mind. Oh, God, he thought, she's going to blast  
me eight ways through eternity. "Sailor Pluto," he said with a  
resigned sigh.  
"Hello, Saffir-san," she said, and her voice held none of the  
condemnation he'd been expecting.  
"Are you going to destroy me?" he asked with the same emotion he  
would have used to ask what the weather was like.  
She shook her head, her long green hair flying away from her fair  
face. "I can't interfere with your freedom of choice, Saffir-san,"  
she said softly. "I just came to ask you not to do it."  
"I thought it was your job to protect the Gates of Time?" he said,  
surprised.  
"You've created your own Gate, and that is beyond my  
jurisdiction."  
"I can't stop this," he replied to her earlier demand.  
"You mean you won't," Pluto corrected grimly.  
"I CAN'T. If Demando-sama wills it, I will do it," Saffir said  
stubbornly.  
She looked terribly sad. "I know," she said. "But I had to  
ask."  
"From what I understand of you, this isn't your usual method of  
dealing with other people. I thought you were isolated from the  
outside world," Saffir said conversationally.  
"You aren't part of the outside world, Saffir-san," she answered.   
"And neither am I."  
He ran a hand through his tangled mop of hair, relaxing. He was  
so tired, and strange though it was, he felt as though he could  
trust Sailor Pluto with his life. "I never have been," he  
admitted. "It's as though I'm not a part of this reality. Without  
Demando, I would have no grounding in 'the real world'."  
"You can't have your life revolve around Prince Demando-sama. He  
doesn't love you as much as you love him," she said bluntly.  
He sighed softly. "I know that, Sailor Pluto. But he's all I  
have."  
Her expression grew impassioned. "No, Saffir-san! You could have  
so much more if only you would open up to the rest of the world!"   
She wrapped her free hand around his left hand, clutching it tightly.  
His eyes brightened, then dimmed as though someone had shuttered  
them. "Really? Leave my the Family? They may not be much, but  
they ARE my family." With his unfettered hand, he shoved aside his  
bangs, leaving the inverted crescent standing out in stark relief to  
his pale skin. "And I am forever marked as different then normal  
humans."  
She slid down to her knees beside his chair, releasing her staff.  
Strangely enough, the staff seemed to melt into thin air when its  
owner forgot it. Grabbing his other hand, she held both of them.   
"I wish things were different," she confessed.   
Their eyes met, and each recognized a kindred spirit. A tear fell  
to the floor, and Saffir raised a hand to cup the Senshi's face. "I  
wish I could have had a day- just a day- among the flowers of  
Terra," he said wistfully.   
That was it. The calm, serene Senshi of the outermost planet  
broke down in tears for the man in front of her. She'd seen so much  
tragedy in her long life, but none was as pointless as this man's.   
Her knowledge of the future was imperfect, but she knew that if  
things continued along their present course, Saffir would die  
through the betrayal of his brother.  
"Can I stay with you?" she asked when she managed to get herself  
under control again. "Until the machine is fully running?"  
He nodded, and without breaking eye contact, hit the button that  
would start the final sequence. The ominous click sealed his fate,  
and Pluto was barely able to keep from crying again.  
"It will be a while," he said. "Ten hours or so."  
"You were planning on getting some sleep, weren't you?" she asked.  
He shrugged in an embarrassed matter. "I've been working on this  
thing for a straight week with less then twelve hours, Pluto."  
She smiled weakly and rose to her feet with practiced grace. "For  
now, call me Setsuna. Just for tonight."  
"Just for tonight," Saffir replied, wrapping his arms around her  
slender waist, reading her intentions perfectly....  
  
.... Saffir snapped back to the present with a jerk. I must have  
a weakness for green hair, he thought with amusement, though their  
was an underlying tinge of sadness. That had been his best night's   
sleep he'd ever had. When he'd awakened in the morning, she had  
been gone, the only evidence of her presence had been a sweet scent  
on his pillows and a single flower that he had identified as a  
"forget me not".  
He looked down at the droid, weary beyond belief. Rubeus would be  
sending for this creation soon, and if the droid wasn't prepared, it  
would really hit the fan. He just wished he could get some sleep,  
decent rest that wasn't plagued by nightmares of the Wiseman and  
Demando. He wished, almost seriously, that Setsuna would show up.   
Her presence soothed him.  
Suddenly, inspiration struck him and he spent the next few hours  
working at a frantic pace as he prepared the droid.  
Finally the body was complete- all that was required was the  
infusion of the energy of the jakokuzuishou. Saffir walked across  
the workshop into the study, searching.   
In the top drawer of his desk, there was a small box. In it was  
about a dozen gems, each one with the symbol of the Black Moon  
Family. He reached out and selected one, feeling the power run  
through it. Then he grabbed his earrings (the ones he refused to use  
without good reason) of top of his desk. Then it was back to the  
workshop.  
He planted the gem into the smooth skin of the droid, then  
grimaced as he held up his earrings.  
He hated the things with a passion. They were tools, and he  
disliked how everyone else seemed to be growing dependent on them.   
Besides, he disliked magic in general. He didn't actually have to  
put them in- good thing, too, since he didn't have his ears pierced,  
so he just held them over the lifeless body. Using his formidable  
will, he focused his powers into channeling the energy of the  
jakokuzuishou into the droid. Few had enough willpower to use this  
much energy and not be destroyed by it- Demando, Esmeraude, maybe  
Rubeus. No one else.  
Soon it was finished. Now all that remained was the naming of the  
droid. He reached over and touched her forehead, causing her  
eyelids to flutter. "Awaken, Droido Hypnotica."  
  
THE BEGINNING  
  
Notes:  
  
My name is Quicksilver, and I am a distinct author from Quiksylvr.   
My apologies for any confusion, but that has been my handle for the  
last four years, and I have no inclination to change it... I already  
have a substancial body of fanfic built up in other fields, and I  
want to make sure I can sucker a few of my already fans into loving  
SM as much as I do!  
Anyway, this is my first completed SM short- I have some other  
projects in the works... right now the infamous Saffir/Ami romance  
is my priority.   
Anyway, I must extend my thanks to Celeste-chan, who lives over at  
the Bakery with Saint Erythros... both of them are Excellent Black  
Moon authors... for the record, I adore Saffir-chan... I have him  
Saturdays! And I want to state my claim on Mamo-chan, too... How  
about Friday nights? -_^  
Anyway, feedback is the mana of fanfic writers- without it, many of  
us stop writing... hint, hint....  
  
mbsilvana@yahoo.com  
http://www.homestead.com/quicksilverslabyrinth/headpage.htm   
(page opens on 30-09-99)  
  



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